The incomparable purveyors of your favorite zines, artists’ books, jewelry, art and independent publishing- nobody does it like Quimbys NYC.

Last year, Williamsburg showed what happens when a community refuses to let an independent cultural institution disappear. Now, Quimbys needs that community.

A legacy that started in Chicago: Quimbys story began more than three decades ago.

In 1991, Quimbys Bookstore opened in Chicago, Steven Svymbersky created a home for artists, zines, independent publications, comics, and all kinds of strange and wonderful printed matter that traditional bookstores often overlooked. More than 30 years later, that spirit lives on in New York.

For me, Quimbys has always been more than a bookstore. It has been a home.

I first found Quimbys in Chicago, near my grade and high schools- I often cut class to camp out in the bookshelves. It was a magical place where I discovered artists, read punk zines, and learned about people who made things- simply because they needed to exist. It shaped me, and when I moved back to New York in 2017, Quimbys NYC was waiting for me. It was a familiar place in a rapidly-changing world where I could put down roots and contribute to that creative ecosystem in a meaningful way.

I built the WitchWinds Tarot Room at Quimbys, creating a home base for a cache of talented readers, healers, and mystic practitioners to share their craft. We hosted Tarot readings almost daily, held community events, moon rituals and gatherings that brought incredible people through the door who might never have crossed paths otherwise. It became its own little world—a place to meet, share journeys, discover talents, and build community.

That’s what Quimbys does so well. It doesn’t just sell books- it brings people together. And everyone is welcomed.

Quimbys NYC opened in Williamsburg on Metropolitan Avenue in 2016, bringing the same fierce commitment to independent publishing to Brooklyn. In a twist of fate, Quimbys set up shop next to Desert Island Comics- whose business was shaped by its owners time in Chicago. Over the past years, these two beacons of independent arts and press have been home for artists, illustrators, writers, zinesters, collectors, and readers looking for something they can’t find anywhere else.

Together, they created something special: a little stretch of Metropolitan Avenue where you could walk in looking for one thing and leave with something you’d never heard of before.

Since opening on Metropolitan Avenue in 2016, Quimbys has built something that is increasingly rare in New York: a small independent bookstore devoted not to best sellers, but to the people making things.

Zines. Alternative magazines. Political writing. Photography. Queer and feminist publishing. Small-press editions. Tarot decks and oddities. Strange little books you didn’t know existed.

And now Quimbys is being displaced.

The building has been sold, and after eight years on Metropolitan Avenue, Quimbys is being forced to find a new home.

We’ve seen this story before.

Recently, Crest Hardware closed, and Desert Island was forced to relocate after its building was sold too. The community rallied, and Desert Island found a way forward. Now Quimby’s is facing the same thing.

Metropolitan Avenue is almost a vacant lot. With Crest gone, and more to topple- the building that houses Quimbys was also sold, and now the bookstore is forced to build a new home in Williamsburg. Luckily, they’ve secured a place around the corner at 418 Union Ave to make their new home.

Uprooting and remodeling isn’t easy- the new space on Union needs to be retrofitted to accommodate new shelving, lighting, sound, signage, and general construction. It takes time and money to rebuild. Help Quimbys write its next chapter.

Why help one little bookstore?

This isn’t just about moving a bookstore.

It’s about whether a place like Quimby’s should continue to exist in Williamsburg.

Quimbys gives independent artists, locals and publishers a physical place to put their work in front of an audience- to meet their people.

It gives a first-time author somewhere to consign their zine or publication. It gives an artist a place to showcase their talents and sell their works without a gallery.

It gives readers a chance to stumble across something they would never encounter through an algorithm.

And it gives Williamsburg something that can’t be replicated by Amazon, Instagram, or anything else.

Quimbys is the kind of place where you walk in for 5 minutes and somehow leave an hour later with three books, a Tarot deck, a zine, and a completely new obsession.

Maybe you’ve spent an afternoon browsing the shelves with Gracie by your ankles.

Maybe you discovered an artist because their work was sitting on a Quimbys shelf.

Maybe you brought a friend in just to show them your work on the shelves of “this weird little bookstore.”

Maybe you walked in not knowing what you were looking for- and found exactly the thing you needed.

That kind of place doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because someone has spent years building it. Over 30 years to be exact. Let’s reward Quimbys for its MANY contributions and help make its new home.

We are asking the community to come together to help cover the costs of relocating, remodeling and establishing its next community space. Our goal is $50,000.

Every contribution will help with the costs of setting up the new storefront, moving, hauling, and making sure this transition doesn’t become an impossible financial burden on an already small independent business.

If you’ve ever found something at Quimbys that you couldn’t find anywhere else, this is your chance to give back.

Give what you can. Share this campaign!

Tell an artist! Tell a publisher! Tell a zinester! Tell your weird-book-loving friend!

Because we’ve already seen what happens when Williamsburg comes together to protect the places that make it special. We showed up for Desert Island. Now let’s show up for Quimbys . Let’s give Quimbys NYC the chance to write its next chapter, together.

KEEP QUIMBY’S IN WILLIAMSBURG!

KEEP ZINES HERE!

KEEP INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING HERE!

KEEP THE WEIRD STUFF HERE!

Donate. Share. Show up!

KEEP QUIMBYS IN WILLIAMSBURG!!

Help keep one of New York’s only homes for all things weird in the neighborhood.

Team Members